Hydrometer



May 5, 1942.

C. E. LINEBARGER 2,282,069

HYDROMETER Original Filed Dec. 23, 1935 Patented May 5, 1942 HYDROMETER Charles E. Linebarger, deceased, late of Chicago, 111., by Charles E. Linebarger, Jr., administrator, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Chaslyn Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Original application December 23, 1935, Serial No. 55,765. Divided and this application January 25, 1939, Serial No. 252,714

2 Claims.

This invention relates to hydrometers, and particularly to such instruments which depend for their action on the physical law of moments, in the application of which a segment is mounted on a horizontal axis so that the segment turns, when submerged in a liquid the density of which is to be determined, through angles the magnitude of which depends upon the density of the liquid and also upon the distribution and density of the masses of the various parts of the segment with respect to its axis.

One object of the invention is to provide a hydrometer to conveniently determine the density of liquids, particularly those having low densities. For this purpose the hydrometer is provided with a buoyant means for decreasing the specific gravity or the mean density of the segment as a whole, or certain parts thereof. It also is provided with thermostatic means for compensating for variations in the density of the liquid being tested because of variations in temperature thereof.

This application is a division of application, Serial No. 55,765, filed December 23, 1935, and which became Letters Patent, No. 2,168,353, issued August 8, 1939; and reference may be had to that case for such detail concerning the invention as it is not deemed necessary to duplicate in this case.

Of the drawing accompanying this specification and embodying the features of the invention, Fig. 1 is an elevation of a hydrometer; Fig. 2 is an edge view of the same; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a similar hydrometer with a modification thereof; Fig. 4 is an elevation of another modification; and Fig. 5 is a sectional View along the line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

The hydrometer of Fig. 1 comprises any suitable support, such as the strip 35, which in the use of the hydrometer may be supported by the hand or by any means connected with the opening 36. Pivoted to the support 35, by a pin 38, is a segment 40 which consists of a sheet of any suitable material; and fixed to the pin, at a suitable angle with the support, is a pointer 33, which is arranged to coact with a scale 42 on the sheet as the sheet rotates on the pin. Fixed to the sheet is a hollow casing which consists of a suitable thermostatic bellows, which may be similar to the bellows known to the trade as the sylphon bellows. One end of the bellows is adjustably fixed to the scale sheet 40 and the other end projects freely therefrom. As the temperature of the liquid rises, with this hydrometer in use, the bellows will expand and its buoyancy will thus increase. If suitably formed for the particular liquid and temperature change, the increase in buoyancy of the bellows will be substantially sufficient to compensate for the decreased buoyant force of the liquid as its temperature rises. It will be understood that the mean density of the scale sheet and the scale sheet bellows taken together will be about the same as the density of the liquid under test; and the pointer and scale will be so arranged that the pointer will indicate the density of the liquid. A pin 31 fixed to the sheet and sufliciently long to coact with the pointer will insure the rotation of the scale sheet in the right direction.

Fig. 3 shows a modified form of bellows for the purpose of correcting for temperature changes. This is the wafer type of bellows, a wafer 42' taking the place of the bellows 4|. The wafer expands in both directions as the temperature changes. The wafer is set in an opening 43 in the scale sheet 44.

In Figs. 4 and 5 is shown a further modification. In this case the scale sheet 46 is fixed with reference to the supporting pivot 41 on which the arm 48 is rotatably mounted. Fixed to the outer end of the arm 48 is a bellows 49; and fixed to the outer side of the bellows is a pointer 5|] coacting with the scale SI of the sheet 46. The bellows, as the arm revolves around the pivot, plays in the slot 52 of the sheet. As the temperature of the liquid rises or sinks the volume of the bellows will increase or decrease accordingly, thus varying the buoyancy thereof so as to compensate substantially for the varying buoyant force of the liquid.

It will thus be seen that, in this case, and in case of Figs. 1 and 2, the bellows acts both as a buoy and as a thermostat. In case of Fig. 4 the bellows can be kept from the dead center position by the lower end of the slot 52 or by a pin 53. In case of Fig. 1 a pin may be used, or the bellows may be set sufficiently out of center either to the right or the left of a line passing through the middle of the scale sheet to the axis of rotation. As shown the bellows is positioned to the left of this line.

I claim as the invention:-

1. A direct reading hydrometer of the immersion type, comprising in combination a handle, an arcuate segment pivoted at its apex to one end of the handle and provided with suitable indicia, a pointer fixed to the handle in co-operative relation with said indicia, and a temperature compensating unit carried by said segment for exposure to the liquid under test, said unit being of the expansible bellows type, substantially as described.

2. A direct reading hydrometer of the immersion type, comprising in combination a handle, an arcuate segment provided with suitable indicia, a pointer, connections between the handle and the apex of the segment and the pointer, one of said said connections being movable, and

a temperature compensating unit carried by said movable element for exposure to the liquid under test, said unit being of the expansible bellows type, substantially as described.

CHARLES E. LINEBARGER, JR. Administrator of the Estate of Charles E. Linebarger, deceased. 

